Rondò della Stella

Autodromo Nazionale Circuit

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Situated in the north of the park, in the area of “Bosco Bello”, the Rondò della Stella was originally located at the confluence of several perspective views on architectures inside and outside the Park; today the area is inside the F1 racetrack.

Scenographic clearing inside the Bosco Bello along the direction of Viale Mirabello, the Roundhouse allowed to admire, standing firm in the middle of it, a dozen of perspective views that were oriented towards some noble residences beyond the northern borders of the Park or important architectures inside the Park. Unfortunately, with the building of the racetrack in the 1920s, the perspective telescopes were irremediably damaged. Requalified in the 1990s after many years of degrade and neglect, the Roundhouse is now accessible and the row of hornbeams and oaks that characterized it in the past were rebuilt.

In the nineteenth century, walking along Viale Mirabello from the south to the north, visitors came to a magic place nestled in the woods, the Rondò della Stella.

From this clearing in the Bosco Bello, indeed, originated, as star’s rays (here the name), a dozen perspective avenues that visually connected important architectures inside as well as outside the Park. With a single glance from the centre of the Roundhouse visitors could see: in the north, beyond the Park’s borders, villa Somaglia and villa Maggi-Belvedere, also called “Il Gernetto” in Lesmo, and villa Boffalora-Mellerio in Macherio; furthermore, Serraglio dei Cervi and Costa Bassa, respectively towards the north-east and north-west; and also, towards the south-west Santa Maria alle Selve in Biassono and towards the south the portico of Cascina Monza, which is not there anymore.

With the construction of the racetrack in 1922 and its following variants, the Rondò della Stella found itself isolated within the perimeter of the racetrack. Although the roundhouse can still be reached and the avenues that create a star can be recognized, the majority of the perspective views have been unfortunately interrupted, above all due to the construction of the racetrack’s northern banked curve. The views that in the nineteenth century stretched for more than 2 kilometres are now reduced to less than 200 metres. After years of neglect and use of them as a service and parking area during the motor racing events, in the 1990s the area of the roundhouse underwent requalification: the circular clay ring, from which what is left of the perspective avenues originates, was renovated; the grass in the central parterre was reseeded; the peripheral row of the roundhouse (here the new name “Rondò dei Carpini”, which means “Hornbeam Roundhouse”) and the rows of oaks along Viale Mirabello were rebuilt.